A quiet man's blog.

Weblogs

Feb 21, 2012

I recently gave a lecture, screened on the BBC, about quantum theory, in which I pointed out that “everything is connected to everything else”. This is literally true if quantum theory as currently understood is not augmented by new physics. This means that the subatomic constituents of your body are constantly shifting, albeit absolutely imperceptibly, in response to events happening an arbitrarily large distance away; for the sake of argument, let’s say on the other side of the Universe.

Feb 08, 2011

I've written here before about the huge storm that's spreading across so much of Saturn that it's been readily visible even from Earth-based telescopes. Over the past couple of days a couple of new images of Saturn have appeared that show just how enormous the storm is today. Here's one from the Cassini orbiter, which is, of course, in a better position than anybody else to view things happening on Saturn:

Blog From Any Webpage with Chrome Blogging Extensions

Many bloggers do a lot of quoting from and commenting on other articles and sites. This is a big part of many blogs. Many bloggers like to introduce their readers to new finds or share their opinions on something already written about.

Google Chrome has a few extensions that gives you the ability to post to your blog from the site you want to write about. For this task, check out Blog This (for Blogger users), TypePad Blog It (for TypePad users), Shareaholic for Google Chrome, and Scribefire (actually a full-featured blog editor but also makes posting links and comments to your blog easier).

He kindly agreed to send me the 8 figures of the “human fingerprints on climate change,” which I repost below.

The clever deniers these days don’t deny the painfully obvious reality that the planet is warming or that climate is changing — they simply deny that humans are a major cause.

But in fact there is an overabundance of evidence that humans are warming the planet and changing the climate, so much so that the U.S. National Academy of Sciences labels as “settled facts” that “the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities.”

Sep 13, 2010

John Stewart was living in south London six years ago when two things happened that seriously affected his health. "First the flight paths were changed so planes passed over my flat every 90 seconds. Then a nearby laundry centralised all its activities into one site, so the noise of the machines permeated the whole block. They were going all day and during the night," he says.

Apr 22, 2010

“These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA, in a release. “SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics.”

Apr 10, 2010

I've been telling you about the Big Bang, the greatest story ever told, and the entire natural history of the Universe. Let's remind you -- historically -- of how our conception of the Universe changed as we learned more about our surroundings...........

Mar 26, 2010

The combination of bass and acoustic guitar is a daunting one. Without a drummer to keep
time, the rhythmic responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the string players who must
improvise, forge melodies, and support each other simultaneously. Charlie Haden and Egberto
Gismonti, two jazz masters with historic resumés, show the world exactly how it's done.
Recorded live in 1989, this set is a stunning musical dialogue between two intelligent
and creative players. On the opening cut "Salvador" Haden hands the intro to Gismonti
who firmly states the melody then vigorously solos while the bassist pumps out simple
eighth notes sans harmony. Midway through the piece, Gismonti comps with similar figures
while Haden embellishes the guitarist's introductory motifs. When Gismonti switches over
to piano, as in "Maracatu," Silence" and "Palhaco" the harmonic interplay is slightly
altered due to the keyboard's ability to sustain notes with more clarity and precision,
but the ideology remains the same: two players working together to construct a single
sound. The use of bass harmonics as a percussive device in "Em Familia" is intriguing,
especially when Gismonti reciprocates by turning his lightning fast arpeggios into pedal
tones for Haden to expand on. Gismonti's atonal piano break in "Frevo" and the playful
riffs at the onset of "Don Quixote" are equally captivating as Haden juggles half-time,
double-time, and quarter-time figures in a duel of counterpoint solos that make the last
twenty minutes of the concert whiz by. This disc is a must have for jazz players seeking
refreshing ideas in a duo format.

Mar 25, 2010

This Ada Lovelace Day post was actually written a few years ago when I was trying to get a documentary about the following woman commissioned. These are the ‘notes’ I wrote about her as reference for the proposal. It’s not written with flair (I’m full-time mummying a 10 month old at the moment!), but the underlying story is, I think, rather powerful....